True Brit

An interesting article (as usual) here by Simon Reynolds, positing the not unreasonable supposition that hip hop has lost its way as a musical force. This is a thought that may have crossed your mind had you been unfortunate enough to catch recent lukewarm efforts by Kanye West, P Diddy or Eminem. However, the article does make the unwarranted assumption that hip hop is an artform exclusive to, and exported solely from, the U.S.A. Not true, of course. France has a thriving hip hop subculture. As does Japan. As does Britain. And the British scene is in relatively rude health. Or, at least, in no less rude health than at any other time in its history.

This history is currently being explored in a fantastic exhibition that I saw recently at Manchester's Urbis. Entitled Home Grown: The Story of UK Hip Hop, it's a comprehensive look at the genre in the UK from its beginnings (the growing awareness of the American scene in the early eighties through films like Wild Style, the influence of figures like Malcolm McLaren and, in particular, the importance of Morgan Khan's Street Sounds Electro imprint), through its initial recordings by pioneers like Broken Glass Crew and Newtrament, the Music of Life and Gee Street labels, and The Ruthless Rap Assassins, through 90s labels like Melankolic and Bite It!, to the launch of Radio 1Xtra (featuring former underground artists like Skitz and Rodney P as DJs) and the success of artists like Mike Skinner and Roots Manuva. As its narrative unfolds in a more-or-less chronological order, props are given, rightly, to artists like Derek B, She Rockers, MC Duke, the Demon Boyz, Stereo MCs, Blade, Hijack, Monie Love, Lewis Parker, Overlord X, Ty... and, in particular, demonised figures such as Dave Pearce and Tim Westwood, who, for all their faults, were genuinely there from day one (you can see Westwood's 1983 columns for Blues & Soul on display, for example).

It's an exhaustive look at the subject, curated entirely be people who clearly know the subject inside out (which is always a bonus whenever you're putting on an exhibition at a museum), but who also have a great grasp of how to hold people's attention. As well as copious photos, flyers and posters, there are opportunities to look at videos and listen to actual hip hop at multiple points in the exhibition. The attention to detail on the part of the curators is terrific, too; after spending an hour or so perusing the artefacts on display, it was only as I was leaving that I looked closer at the labels describing the objects, and realised that they were cassette cases, with typed inlay cards. If you can get to Manchester before March and have even a cursory interest in the subject, a visit to Urbis is highly recommended. Especially as the venue is closing shortly thereafter to become the National Football Museum.

That British rap is enjoying its moment in the sun is due in no small part to the fantastic Big Dada label, home to Juice Aleem, Ty and the current Mercury Prize holder Speech Debelle (though the latter notoriously (reportedly) dumped the label that brought her her acclaim soon afterwards. In the music industry, this is known as "doing a Gary Clail"). The label's big seller, though, is, of course, Roots Manuva. A full breakthrough into the mainstream is surely imminent, as Mr. Manuva (né Rodney Smith) has been recording with indie try-hards The Maccabees. His last album, Slime & Reason, was slightly overlooked by critics, but I think it's just as strong as his previous efforts, especially the squelchy sound effects that he's nicked from label-mates Spank Rock. Check I'm A New Man from Slime & Reason below.

Lewis Parker features prominently in the exhibition, and may get more notice in a future planned blog post about his former label, Melankolic (no promises, mind). Until then, enjoy a cut from his 1998 album Masquerades & Silhouettes, below. The title alone should tip you off that gangstas and hoes will be conspicuous by their absence.

Finally for today, Manchester's own Ruthless Rap Assassins. They feature heavily in the Urbis exhibition, and rightly so. So does their producer, Greg Wilson, who mentored the group, having done the same some years previously for Broken Glass Street Crew. Their No Tale, No Twist track comes from their 1991 near-hit album Think, It Ain't Illegal Yet. Peace. We outta here.


Download No Tale, No Twist by Ruthless Rap Assassins (mp3) (deleted Aug 2010)

Download Shadows of Autumn by Lewis Parker (mp3) (deleted Aug 2010)

Download I'm A New Man by Roots Manuva (mp3) (deleted Aug 2010)

Art Brut

I occasionally like to drill my kids on their knowledge of pop history. It keeps 'em on their toes, I find.

This week, we were listening to the radio when the (wonderful) Keep The Customer Satisfied came on. The Simon and Garfunkel version, thankfully.

"Who's this?" I asked. The usual educated guesses ensued.

"Blondie?" pondered the nine-year old. It often is, but it wasn't on this occasion.

"Beach Boys?" asked the eleven-year old hopefully.

"No," replied I. "I'll give you a clue. It's one of grandpa's favourite groups." My dad has always liked Simon & Garfunkel. Bridge Over Troubled Water was one of the albums that soundtracked my youth, along with Tapestry and Mud Slide Slim.

The proverbial light bulb went on over the nine-year old's head. He struggled to remember his grandfather's favourites. He could remember. Nearly, anyway. I could tell. After a long pause, he formulated his guess. "Errrrrr......Artle & Funk?"

We fell about laughing.

Freudian Slip

A post-script to the previous post: as an anonymous contributor points out, I shamefully forgot the passing of Sir Clement Freud in 2009 (many thanks, and no, it wasn't deliberate).

As a mea culpa, here's a link to a fantastic Clement joke. It was originally posted on Rhodri Marsden's great blog. I hope he doesn't mind.

2009 Round Up

It's the end of the year, and along with the James Bond film, the advocaat and the arguments, there's one festive tradition that has become de rigeur across the UK. Or at least for the fourteen people reading this blog. Yes, it's the Irk The Purists' annual roundup.

Best single:
As albums die out as a format, and every track ever made is available to own or listen to at all times, rather than for finite periods, individual songs really have to punch above their weight to get noticed. Is there even such a thing as a single anymore? Possibly not, when songs can reach the top of the charts without a physical release (don't even think about it- innuend0 ed.). That said, there have been a number of truly fantastic tunes this year, largely by R&B poppets like Beyonce, whose Single Ladies was particularly exciting (especially the parts that sounded like the aliens exploding on the old Galaxian arcade game). However, the one tune of 2009 guaranteed to get the party started at Irk The Purists Towers was Boys And Girls by Pixie Lott.



Best book:
A few nominations in this category: I greatly enjoyed Simon Reynolds’ Totally Wired http://totallywiredbysimonreynolds.blogspot.com/, especially the chapter that, rightly, gave due credit to the B-52’s (a B-52’s post is overdue, I feel). Also, Paul O’Grady’s autobiog (didn’t get round to this till recently). However, the most thoroughly-researched and enlightening book I read this year (even though, like O’Grady’s, it was released last year) was Michael Bracewell’s Roxy, originally published in hardback as ReMake/ReModel. An in-depth investigation of the pre-history of Roxy Music, Alex Clark in The Observer called it “a stunning look at the band’s cultural impact”. Clark (unbelievably, a former editor of Granta and ex-deputy literary editor at the Observer) clearly wasn’t paying attention to what she read (if, indeed, she read it all. I doubt the people at Faber had properly read it either, as they chose to put this quote on the back cover of the paperback release). Actually, it’s no such thing. In fact, it’s precisely the opposite. It’s a look at culture’s impact on the band: the book concludes just prior to the release of Virginia Plain, so how Bracewell’s book could touch on the band’s impact on wider culture is beyond me.

OK, rant over. If you’ve ever wanted to find out more about the characters in Ferry’s, Eno’s, Manzanera’s and Mackay’s milieu from the 1960s to 1972 (particularly Victor Pasmore, Richard Hamilton, Antony Price, Mark Lancaster and Simon Huxley) then this is a must-read. While it’s enlightening about early Roxy, it’s in no way a biography of the band, and it’s all the better for it. Instead, it’s about art, fashion, education and design in the 1960s and beyond, and while conventional histories of the period tend to ignore many of the protagonists of Bracewell’s book, Roxy redresses the balance.


Most annoying phrasing:
It’s a bloody awful song in every possible way, but the bit in Cheryl Cole’s Fight For This Love when she sings “Now every day ain't gon' be no picnic”, and contrives to pronounce pic-nic with a stressed second syllable really makes me want to throw the radio at the wall. The video is heinous, too.


Most promising newcomers 2009:
The Drums- everybody (including themselves) says they sound like a Factory Records band. See here for example. I can't hear it myself (unless they were referring to The Distractions). Despite this, they're worth your attention in 2010.
Runners up: The XX (my tip for the 2010 Mercury if you feel like a flutter)




Best inadvertent offensive TV moment:
Jamie Cullum, on The One Show, had promised to dedicate a song to the most deserving applicant that contacted the show during the first twenty-five minutes of its transmission. The son of a cancer patient got in touch to ask that a song be dedicated to his mum, then undergoing chemotherapy. Jamie, who clearly was going to be playing the song that he'd prepared, no matter who contacted the show, then, as promised, played his selection to the dedicatee. And what was the song he'd chosen? Go here to find out. It's about 1:35 in. Gulp.

Best album:
Notwithstanding my comments about the demise of the album (above), my fave albums this year were by Bibio's Ambivalence Avenue , Major Lazer's Guns Don't Kill People, and The Warm Heart of Africa by The Very Best. Can't decide between 'em.

2009 “better than I expected” award:
I’d more or less given up on Primal Scream after the debacle of Riot City Blues, and only picked up 2008’s Beautiful Future as it was in a bargain bin in Dundee. And whaddayaknow, it’s actually alright. Not quite up there with Xtrmntr, but certainly far better than we have a right to expect from jaded, wealthy rock stars with a collective age approaching 250. If you see it in a bargain bin, pick it up. Hell, let's push the boat out. If you see it for less than £7, pick it up.

RIP:
Rowland S. Howard, Derek B, John Updike, Patrick McGoohan, Julius Shulman, John Hughes, Ron Silver, Dominick Dunne, Frank McCourt, Marilyn Chambers, Michael Jackson, Mollie Sugden, Vic Chesnutt, Patrick Swayze, Les Paul, Merce Cunningham, Charles Gwathmey, John Mortimer

Oh! Brother

Today's papers are flagging up the forthcoming, final Celebrity Big Brother. According to the Grauniad, Channel 4 commissioning editor David Williams said the theme of the final celebrity series was "Dante's inferno - hell lies in others".

How on earth do you get to be a commissioning editor without being able to discriminate between Dante and Sartre (who said "L'enfer, c'est les autres" some 750 years after Dante)? Actually, scrub that. I know it's precisely such knowledge that disqualifies you from a job at Channel 4.

Lake Superior

The greatest Christmas song ever is, of course, The Waitresses' Christmas Wrapping. And there's a lot of others, besides, as you can read in a post of 3 years ago.

However, I retain a soft spot for Greg Lake's I Believe in Father Christmas. And we don't feature much prog here, so let's break the habit of a lifetime. If it happens to be snowing outside (and it has been in much of the UK over the last few days), I defy you to look out of the window while you listen to this and not feel your eyes prickle a bit.

Have a good one, y'all.

Download Greg Lake's I Believe in Father Christmas (mp3) (deleted Feb 2010- too late!)

Machine tool

There's not a lot to say about the new Christmas No.1. And there's really no need to re-hash all the arguments, mention the moneys raised for Youth Music and Shelter, acknowledge that it's a Pyrrhic victory, or make silly statements about how we're all going to smash capitalism using Twitter. Everybody knows what the campaign was all about, and understands its meaning (or lack thereof). Everyone, that is, except Barbara "Will This Do?" Ellen. Christ, didn't she used to work for the NME? Read this for an object lesson in how to write about something on which you have no knowledge and can't be bothered to research. Scroll down to the comments to see 550 angry Guardianistas in full cry. Try not to think of Private Eye's Polly Filler.